Today’s Find Your Flow message is about not letting what feels urgent steal your attention from what’s actually important.

I had an electrician walk into my new house today and almost immediately walk back out. We had just opened up the floors, and he told me he thought there could be asbestos and that he wasn’t comfortable continuing until I had an environmental company come out and test.

I had already done extensive asbestos, mold and lead testing before buying the house, but that information didn’t seem particularly comforting to either of us in the moment.

Within a few minutes, my mind had gone surprisingly far.

I started worrying about everyone who had been working in the house. I worried about my own health. I called the abatement company I had previously used and learned they couldn’t come until the middle of September. My contractors are scheduled on another job by then.

Suddenly I was imagining the renovation being delayed for months. Maybe we wouldn’t move until the new year. My daughter is starting preschool walking distance from this house, which was part of why I chose it. I started thinking about the money I was spending and wondering whether I had taken on too much.

All because of something I didn’t even know was true yet.

After about an hour of going down a rabbit hole of planning for the worst case scenario and stress– thankfully, I caught myself.

There was actually nothing for me to solve yet.

Someone was coming to look at it in a few hours. If there was asbestos, I would deal with it. I could find another company. Maybe we would lose a week or two. Maybe something would have to change on my timeline and budget, but the truth was I didn’t have enough information to know what the next problem was, let alone solve all the imaginary problems that might come after it.

And this reminded me of something I think we forget all the time:

What is urgent can change five times in a day.

What is important usually doesn’t.

The important parts of my life were exactly the same as they had been that morning.

My daughter. My family. My health. Creating a home and environment that inspires and supports us. Building community and connection. Time with my friends and clients. Expanding my purpose. Creating, teaching and sharing. 

Building a life that actually feels aligned, purposeful, inspiring and healthy to live.

None of that had changed.

But for a few hours, something that felt urgent was threatening to consume all of it.

So instead of spending the rest of the day trying to solve a problem I couldn’t solve yet, I took care of myself.

I got some Chinese tea with herbs that feel nourishing to me. I went to yoga. I ate a big colorful salad with protein and lentils. I worked out. I sat in the hot tub. I gave myself enough time to pack for an upcoming trip without rushing. And then I went home to put my daughter to bed.

Interestingly, by the time the environmental expert came out, he told me he was 99.9% sure what the electrician had seen wasn’t asbestos.

We’ll still make sure. But the crisis my mind had spent a few hours preparing for may never have existed.

How often do you do this?

• An email arrives
• A challenge appears
• A plan changes
• Someone needs something
• Something feels uncertain, and suddenly it gets promoted to the most important thing in your life

*Urgent and important are not the same thing.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do in the middle of uncertainty is to recognize when there is no next action yet.

In the past, I never would’ve left the job site. I was sitting around waiting and then I realized I can FaceTime and talk on the phone rather than waste hours sitting there. 

I actually was allowed to choose to focus on my important categories instead. That turned out to be such a better choice for my health, my clarity, my nervous system and my daughter.

Sometimes you just have to see the truth, take a deep breath, give yourself some permission and start moving…

You don’t have to give an unanswered question your entire day.

Take the action that’s actually available. Then return to what matters.

Go to yoga. Pick up your child. Eat something nourishing. Do your work. Call your friend. Take the walk. Create something. Keep the promises you make to yourself.

Because your life doesn’t move forward by successfully responding to every urgency that appears.

It becomes a successful life by choosing to move forward with awareness, perspective and intention because you keep returning to what matters—even while the urgent things come and go.

Here’s to you giving yourself some space to choose this weekend. 

Lots of love,

Laurin